


Fall(in)Out Love

by InterGalacticKnight



Category: Fallout 76
Genre: F/M, atom bomb baby but it’s his feelings for her, crawl out though the fallout baby and fall in LOVEEE, post-apocalypse dorks in love, soft, this man would fight blood eagles for her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28979979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterGalacticKnight/pseuds/InterGalacticKnight
Summary: These two on their way though the wasteland still manage to catch those diddly dang feels
Relationships: Gavin Baby/Cat N
Kudos: 1





	Fall(in)Out Love

Gavin, or Baby- or Gavin Baby; actually fuck it. 

Officer. 

He was just, Officer, to nearly anyone and everyone he came across in this god forsaken wasteland. From creature to human to- debatably human creatures, he ran into many faces with many odd names he forgot and loads of factions he disliked to honor the titles of. 

But to each and every one of those alike, he was just Officer. 

And in the months that had passed since he had left the warm, coddling, but nearly suffocating arms of the vault- he found himself clinging to the title even more vehemently. Those four years spent in that mountain sized tin can were enough to make anybody desperate for something other than the minuscule title of “vault dweller” amongst other things.

So when he found the uniform discarded so carelessly on the floors of the Morgantown Airport, he couldn’t help but grab onto it as if it had weight in gold, and smuggle the clothing back to a safe place where he pulled it on in a flurry of a quick heartbeat and rampant mind. And after that he searched high and low in every house in the surrounding area till he found one with a mirror just intact enough for him to get a full glimpse of himself. 

And in that moment he stood still and simply stared at himself, more in a sense of bewilderment and an indescribable feeling of belonging he had not felt since childhood and his beginning infatuation with police work. The small vault security stint he did during his “vaultcarceration” dimming in comparison to THIS.

This was magnificent, and this had meaning and purpose, something so lost in this world now. With that in mind, he set out and began his path as simply just being “Officer” to the people of Appalachia. Helping in whatever ways he could from aiding small settlements to taming the beast that was Watoga, and even at one point salvaging what was left of the broken Responder faction he dawned the police uniform from. 

And then he met her. 

In a flurry of a sequined red dress and a super sledge nearly shattering his arm as he dodged just in time for it to land a blow on a mutant hounds skull, he had fallen to the ground and watched as his beloved revolver skidded beyond his grasp on the crumbled pavement. 

He turned back quickly, fists barred in a feeble attempt to defend himself from whatever well dressed mercenary was surely here to clean him of his extensive hoard of Blamco Mac and Cheese, but instead- 

There she stood, her weapon over her shoulder as a look of triumph graced what little of her face that wasn’t hidden behind the frames of large white sunglasses. Her hair was deep black, and swept to the side, and her skin much more tanned then his own. She had an air of tangible strength and confidence to her, and if he was honest, should she actually try and strip him of all he was worth in this very moment- he probably really stood no chance. 

“Hey, need some help up, Officer?”

Hearing that name, from her, for some reason felt so much more otherworldly then it did when screamed by a Blood Eagle or vocoded by a protectron. There was a leer of gentleness to it, and yet so much assuredness that this might as well been her hundredth time saving his ass from some rabid mutt. 

“I’m- fine thank you.”

He stood, and brushed himself off, then turned to retrieve his weapon from the spot it decided to stop it’s mad dash in. He trusted in these moments he was showing vulnerability, she wouldn’t absolutely concuss him with that god hammer she featherweighted on her shoulder, and as he stood and turned back to her while holstering his gun he was pleasently surprised to see he was still very much in the waking world. 

“So what is someone dressed like you doing in a wasteland like this?”

He sounded smooth and suave as one could be after nearly turning into dog food, then proceeded to cross his arms over his chest and stand lackadaisically. She tilted her head, and another smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she seemed to be observing every inch of him for what he was worth. Mentally he was trying to promise her that 20 boxes of Mac and Cheese didn’t harbor THAT many caps and he would be pleased if she didn’t fact check it. 

“I could say the same for yourself.”

She was a smooth talker too it seemed, and he could appreciate and enjoy that. Nary a day in these times did he ever have hardly an ounce of titillating conversation with anyone anymore, the Brotherhood types being the only unfortunate people on the same playing field as him so he REALLY didn’t get much social stimulation. 

“Oh you know, performing my law upholding duty of luring out mutated hounds and beautiful women.”

He smiled, and waited for the blush, the coy little “Oh my, sir.” or even the soft flirty laugh most woman gave, but instead-

“Are you trying to group me in with mutant hounds, Officer?”

It felt like he just swallowed a whole handful of radiated sand, and he nearly choked as he moved to raise his hands in a defense and wave them frantically followed with a, “I was doing absolutely no such thing!”

She however, laughed hysterically rather than flirtily, and seemed utterly amused with the reaction she had roused from him. Her fit going on for well over a minute before she steadied out and waved a hand herself. 

“Relax, I’m just messing with you, good timing and whatnot.”

He could feel his face setting into an expression of murky annoyance, but he forced it back and sighed as he let his gaze wander and scan the horizon for any possible moving targets. She shifted, and seemed to use her hammer as something to lean on, letter her head cock to the side and a still remaining grin to widen as she spoke. 

“I haven’t seen you around before, and you have a pipboy, so did you steal it or are you actually vault?” 

He scoffed, and rolled his eyes dramatically before stopping them on her, nearly laughing again at the way she was cockily posing herself. 

“I’m vault, 76 specifically, what about you Red?”

She hummed, looking a bit taken aback before speaking, “I’m 76 as well, we must have been in different sections of the vault because now Im almost positive Ive never seen you.”

In any other moment, he would have found that level of coincidence to be utter bullshit, but judging by the way she carried herself and spoke, and needless to mention that as far as appearances go she was about as “clean looking” as he was, even if she was lying about which vault she was in due to some possible weird vault tech security shit- she was still undeniably a vault dweller. 

So he rolled with it, and nodded. 

“Fair enough, 76 was pretty large in it of itself so even if I ran into my neighbor right now I wouldn’t be any wiser.”

There was a silence between the two of them, it wasn’t awkward, but it felt more as though they were in their own ways privately processing the fact that they were indeed not alone anymore in this world. She however seemed to move on with it much faster than he did and in seconds was slinging her hammer back over her shoulder with so much ease and grace it was nearly concerning. 

“Well, Officer. I’ll extend the offer of us teaming up in the name of likemindedness, and you seem pretty sharp with a gun which is always useful when the only weapon I use is a hammer. So what do you say?”

He mulled it.

Up until now he had been a one man machine traversing back and forth the Appalachia by himself day and night in sometimes weeks long missions. He scavenged his own food, washed his uniform delicately in passing streams, watched the near perfect stars in the sky every night by light of a dying fire. He was used to and normalized with the idea of walking this dead soil alone with the occasional passing scavenger sticking by for a few miles, and he never once ruminated till now the possibility of all that changing. 

She seemed nice, and overall a fun person to be with, and admittedly based on her recent display of strength she didn’t lack the ability to defend herself like many other wastelanders did. It was nice to see someone on par with him mentally and verbally, and admittedly he knew his answer before he took the long pause to “think” about it anyways. Sighing, he let a hand go up and rub absentmindedly at his chin before he did his best to crack a smile at her. 

“Fine, sounds good with me, Red.”

Thus with that, it started a bond between the two. They grew closer over the months, and he found himself looking forward to when she joined him on missions from the most robot infested buildings to supermutant shitholes festering with entrails, all of it was made infinitely better with her running along by his side and brute forcing her way through hoards of creatures. 

Though this time, he also noticed that his heart as well was longing for her more. Times after missions when they both went their separate ways back to their camps to scrap their spoils, he often wished that either she would return to his or vice verse at some point. To talk, stare at the stars and test how well he remembered the constellations, or even just to simply fall asleep side by side in the warmth of their shelters. 

Love was not alien to him, he did have his own crush on another vault security member back in the day, and the things he did to show her his little bouts of affection were as calculated as they could be. He would try and fix her weapons, or give her better ones that he salvaged from missions, and he would even have off-days he spent going out on short trips to search for clothing for her. 

He noted her deep attachment to her femininity, and he fully understood it. In a world where everyone was stripped down to black and white and dirty brown clothing that was tattered like a wind torn flag- the desire to wear something “pretty” and “girly” was justifiable. And she did it well, the days she put on that red dress even the sun captured her in a different way, light reflecting off thousands of sequins leaving her akin so some sort of beacon calling him in more. 

With that, he put in more effort himself. 

He found himself washing his hair almost daily when he had the water to spare, keeping his uniform in better condition and going as far to learn to sew to repair small rips, eating as good as one possibly could out here, and even the day he managed to find a pristine black suit locked away in a suitcase at The Crater and convinced them to let him leave with it intact. 

And that day he showed up in it, was a day he knew he finally was having an affect on her. 

He had arrived at her camp, they both had agreed to spend the day relaxing after finishing a long mission for the Enclave that they equally needed to do. She had been sitting on her bed, tying the laces of her boot she had just tucked the leg of her paramedic jumpsuit into. Her eyes grew wide behind the frames of her glasses and she looked as if she had just got caught in a vertibird spotlight. 

“Officer...?”

He smiled, and intertwined his fingers behind his back, “Yes, Red?” He did his best not to sound smug, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he was loving the way she stared at him in near disbelief. 

“What’s...what’s all that about? Where did you even find that thing?” Her eyes seemed to be scanning the suit, and one of her hands came up to cup her cheek and her features now looked similar to a pout, “Gosh, it makes my dress look so frumpy in comparison.”

He knew she would mention that, and in preparation he had scavenged a gift for her. It took nearly all day to find and he almost took a stores somehow still surviving security system to the back but managed to escape with items in tow and his spine still intact. 

It was as simple as a small compact that doubled as lipstick, rogue, and a black eyeliner with a small brush. It was a rare find, and the fact it was still nearly perfectly sealed made it even more special. 

The second gift on the other hand was moderately even more rare. 

It was a necklace, simple and silver with a blue sapphire pendent hanging from it. The second he had saw it laying on the floor under a broken piece of wood, he wasted no time picking it up and pocketing it on his way out. He didn’t know her taste in accessories per se, but she didn’t seem the type to be unreasonable. 

And with where he stood, he took a few steps over to her and reached into his pockets, and pulled out both gifts that he has delicately wrapped in soot flower petals. She seemed still confused, but stuck out her hand and let him set the small present in her hand. Mulling it for a moment, she slowly began to unravel the blue petals, and there was a moment where she stared at the two items with what seemed bated breath. 

Then in seconds, she was clutching them close to her chest and staring at him with a softness he had not quite seen from her yet. He could see her eyes watering slightly, and the way her grasp on the necklace and compact tightened like they could be taken away from her at any given moment. 

“Officer you- you didn’t have to.”

She sounded...timid, and very vulnerable, and in that moment he too felt very timid and vulnerable himself. This was the only way he knew to show her his feelings, as for once in his life his words were failing him, and she seemed to perfectly catch the message without amiss. 

“It’s okay, I really wanted too, it’s what you deserve red. I know you wanted some decent makeup, and the necklace I figured would remind you of the ocean somehow.”

With that, he watched tears faintly drip down her cheeks in a freedom they must not have known in any other moment. He stepped forward, and cupped his hand behind her head and pulled her into his embrace, to which she complied and wrapped her arms around his torso. 

They must have been like this for God knows how long, her softly releasing years on years of pent up emotion and clutching makeup and a necklace and himself like they were her last lifelines to a life she hardly knew anymore. And he did as well, he held onto her for all she was worth to him, because at the base of it- she was the last real tangible person he could connect to this way and love so immensely. 

It was different, and comforting, and pure to the point of near perfection. He savored it for every second it lasted and felt the slight sting of tears forming in his own eyes as he shut them and let them roll down his features. He fell open for her totally in times like this, sinking down to sit on the mattress next to her as she nestled her face against his neck and kept her tight hold on him. 

With that, they eventually confessed their feelings. 

So began a long path of them fully coming to conclusion that there was absolutely no harm to loving each other so unabashedly in this world. Their desires to be overly doting, domestic, out-of-the-norm, intimate, and entangled all so welcomed and left with no criticism whatsoever. It was freeing, so much so to the point he found himself disliking this world a little bit less. 

Nights alone became a warm bed with his arm around her waist and his face resting on her upper back as they fell asleep to the whir and hum of a generator or Sofia and Becket in their respective homes tinkering away into the early hours. 

Mornings turned into her making them something to eat for the day, him preparing their backpacks and weapons and stocking their ammo equally. She fixed his uniform and he used his keen eye to spot out more little things for her from extra cosmetics, a pair of silver stud earrings, some more pre-war clothing from dresses to casual clothes. 

They were forming a comfortable rhythm, falling asleep side by side and rising the same way, and eventually they fell from being Officer and Red to Gavin and Cat, and their commitment ran deep enough that respective rings were exchanged and promises were established. 

They were happy, and through it all they still maintained their humor in all they did. From coming up with humorous skits between one another while raiding the Capitol building for legendary ghouls to finding events with other people and laughing their way through waves of radioactive rats.

It was a post-apocalyptic love story for the ages, and they equally didn’t regret a single second of it.


End file.
